Minelab E-trac tips, settings, questions

[PhaseTech]

Yep, we humans love throwing crap on the ground haha.

 

[treasureman]

Anyone here have any experience with this detector? pros cons?

 

[PhaseTech]

Pros:

- Great depth
- Great on the salt
- Stable target ID
- Lots of audio options
- Very flexible discrimination
- Big bold display
- submersible coil
- can hook up to your PC
- no ground balance to worry about

Cons:

- not the lightest detector around
- not the best on fine chains or small jewellery
- could do with a better armrest

 

[treasureman]

Thanks phasetech
decided to get one.
interesting times to come.
it wowill be 200grams heavier than my previous detector

 

[goldwright]

Just wanting a little feedback from the people who have been using this machine. Haven't been chasing coins and the such for long but starting to find the limitations of the 705, Beach wet ground etc. I don't want to spend the $2700 on a CTX but also don't want to settle on the Safari for only $300 less. Really like the look of the Ferrous and conductivity scale on the E-Trac and CTX which is why I am leaning this way. Not looking for a debate on other brands either just wanting honest opinions on the E-Trac. Cheers Kris

 

[rocketaroo]

I am experimenting with the 705, and heard that doing an auto ground balance, then dropping the reading manually, by minus 3, will allow you to raise the sensitivity in noisy conditions. I have only just started doing so, not sure if it works, but people swear by it.

 

[Goldpick]

Sounds like you have pretty much nailed the detector you are after, like you mention, it would be worth spending a bit more for the Etrac over the Safari if you are after the ferrous/conductivity readout. If you have a look at SA_Bogans thread on his beach finds with the CTX, he noticibly increased his finds on the wet sand and shallow water going with a multi-frequency detector over his previously owned 705, which struggled in such areas.

 

[goldwright]

Yeah I think this is the machine for me just wanted to know from E-trac owners whether they had been left wanting for the CTX. I realize this thread already exists and I have read back through them all but no one has really posted on their own experience with a E-Trac in their hands. I have read they have a bit of a stability problem but this is from UK users and things over there are a lot different to over here. Cheers Kris

 

[Kingsolomon]

I'm looking for what people might suggest as good settings for gold on this machine .for hill end type ground . I also have a gpx And will be Using that . But since there will be a few hands thought it might be worth a try. . Any help would be nice barney

 

[pprogers]

A little while back my etrac (which was bought 2nd hand in good condition but well out of warranty) started playing up. I started to get a bunch of chattering and falsing with the stock coil at around xx-26 to xx-30. At first I thought I was just going over heaps of ring pulls and the like, but the unstable numbers weren't repeatable over the same ground. However, the falsing didn't happen all of the time, and I could still hit on genuine targets (goldies) when they were there, but of course I was doubting any responses by that stage.

By the way, I was running in a high discrimination pattern with sens at manual 5. Changing to an open screen (or more open pattern) or to auto sens made things worse...not surprisingly.

I figured it was a problem with the stock 11 inch coil (which does get a few knocks), so changed to the 10x5 coiltek. There was an improvement, but it started playing up as well. There was a bit of the same falsing - but not too much and I could live with it. However, it started to overload on the smallest bits or wire or screws etc.

So I did the factory reset and started again. Seemed to help a bit, but that might just have been my imagination. However the 11 inch coil is still useless, and the 10x5 still has the same problems.

So, to cut a very long question short...do I have a problem in the control box? Is there anything else I can try? I've looked around on other forums as well and the control box problem seems the most likely for what I'm experiencing.

By the way, the rechargeable batteries look good and the terminals in the battery compartment look fine as well.

Before I open it up and have a look...any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Pro-oz]

Just a thought, I have the explore SE is the cable from the coil to the control box secure? But in saying that you should have picked that up when changing coils.
Sorry no idea. I have the etrac coil on the explorer, it's years old, just on beach detecting and never had a problem.

 

[pprogers]

Thanks Prooz.

Yes I have problems with both coils. The cables and connectors (on the cables and control box) all seem ok. I guess the etrac control box took one hit too many. Come to think of it, the detector did take a bit of a spill (on soft turf) not long before the problems started - I did my usual trick of getting hooked up in the headphone lead.

 

[Ivo]

I heard from a friend that the mother boards play up the one he knows about is getting fixed by minelab if this helps

 

[pprogers]

Thanks Ivo, I reckon that must be it. I'd basically resigned myself to that but was hoping someone might have experience with other explanations for the behaviour.

 

[Pro-oz]

Another thing maybe worth checking. Have you taken the coil covers off to clean out any crap that is trapped in between? Have heard of this, can cause a problem but never experienced this myself. Cheers.

 

[pprogers]

Yes I've done that and everything I can think of outside of the box.. so to speak.

 

[RomanchukSL]

Hi! I have made holder for li-ion 18650 battery. It amazing thing, need only three battery. and capacity of 2700mah are almost enough for 5 days.
made for battery size 18mm X 65mm

also lithium batteries don't have a memory effect. you can charge it when you want. don't need to discharge battery like NiMH
one battery 18650 3200mah cost 4-5usd. or you can get 18650 from old notebook battery(ordinary six 18650 in one)
you no longer need dozens of AA batteries

 

[old hand]

Look good, good on you

 

[vstrom]

Hi looks good did you make it in plastic printer

 

[RomanchukSL]

Hi! Yes, it is made on 3d printer.

on photo my primary project. made by myself, I want to start small mass production